Abby Halstead

3/11/16
EDU360
Dr. Rubio
EIST: Kindergarten ELA
For my EIST, I interviewed a girl in Kindergarten. For my interview, I decided I would
read her a story and ask some questions about story elements. Im a Language Arts major and
have been focusing on the story elements for my Blackboard shell, so this gave me some
practical application. I have worked with her in the past, so I knew what kinds of questions she
would most likely be able to handle and what would be too basic for her. For my student, I read
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, written by Jon Scieszka. Im fairly familiar with this
book, and its age appropriate.
I asked a couple of questions before I read the book; this was a tip I learned in EDU350.
I asked her to look at the cover and tell me what she thinks the book might be about. She had
told me shed read the book before, so I asked her what she thought the cover suggested the book
would be about. She went on to say that there was probably sneezing involved. She also
mentioned that the title suggested that the story was what really happened in the story of the
Three Little Pigs.
After reading the story, I went on with my questions. I asked the student if her class had
already learned what a main character is. She confirmed that the class had been learning about
it. When I asked her who the main character was and how she knew, she began to flip through
the pages. She then explained that, The main character is the person that tells the story
Theyre usually on every page. The person that is in every single picture, or the person that is
talking in every single picture is the one that is the main character. I had never heard main

characters being explained that way, and I really liked it. It gives much more practical advice for
the students to follow and look for, as opposed to just being told, The main character is who the
story is about. Its very specific and she did an excellent job with following what her teacher
had taught her.
After this, I asked about conflict. This is another element of story, and I was curious to
see if the student knew anything about it. When she said her class hadnt talked about conflict, I
explained the conflict means problems. With that, I asked her where there were problems in the
story. This was a very broad question, and she ran with it. The student came up with a wide
variety of problems in the story and was able to make connections as to how the story would
have been different if the problems werent there. For instance, she suggested that a problem
within the story was that the main character, the wolf, had a cold. If he hadnt had a cold, she
thought, he wouldnt have sneezed and blown down the houses. Another problem was that the
pigs didnt answer their doors when he knocked. Had they answered, she wondered, the pigs
could have just said they didnt have sugar and the wolf would have moved on to the next house.
Yet another problem the student noticed was that the wolf ate the pigs after they died. This, she
came to the conclusion, made him look even worse to the police when they found him. Finally,
she said that if the wolf had had enough sugar in the first place, the entire story wouldnt have
happened and all of the pigs would still be alive.
For a student who hadnt even heard of the word conflict before, it was incredibly
impressive to listen to her answers. After I gave her a more meaningful definition of the word,
she was able to critically think and come up with a multitude of problems in the story. Even
more so, she came up with solutions for those problems. To me, this seemed very advanced for a
kindergartner. It was obvious that the student was able to listen to my questions and give

appropriate and well thought out answers. I asked a good balance of open and closed-ended
questions, and she thrived with them. When I asked her about main characters, it was interesting
to see how she had taken what shed already learned in the classroom and applied it to this
situation. Its clear that she pays attention in class and is at Blooms level of application. It was
also telling that she was able to give numerous answers for something she had never learned
about before. She is very teachable and grasps new concepts easily. I am not positive how the
student does with other subjects, but it is clear that she excels in Language Arts.
I had known that this student was advanced before the interview, and I expected her to
give proficient answers to my questions. However, she went above and beyond in my opinion
and was a far more critical thinker for her age than I had at first thought. If I were to grade her
for her answers and understanding of the subject, she would receive all 3s and 4s for her work.
She is the type of student who does not settle for average. She is always looking to prove her
intelligence, and she does so with ease. The answers she gave astounded me and left me
impressed with her ability to learn so easily and apply that knowledge.
When comparing her understanding of the topic to my own, its kind of hard, considering
shes in kindergarten and Im a junior in college. However, the elements of story never go away,
so it was neat to look at someone whos just now learning about it from the perspective of
someone whos known for 15 years. She gave me a fresh insight into what it means to be a main
character for both me personally and me as a future educator. Thats definitely a way I would
like to describe it especially for my Blackboard shell. Im the type of person who just kind of
gets stuff. Its often times difficult for me to describe something because in my mind it just
makes sense. Being able to give practical and specific explanations for things like the main
character of a story is very beneficial for me. It was also incredible to see her talk about

problems. I know this will benefit her in the future. This will help both when reading stories
and in her own personal life. Being able to identify problems, the source, and how to fix it are
crucial for life, and she is well on her way to being equipped with this skill. This is something I
think Im fairly good at. Im probably better at it in real life than when reading, so listening to
the student easily point out problems and how to fix them is helpful for me as a reader.
If I could re-do the interview, there are some things I would change. I would not have
allowed for stopping while telling the story. I would have read it straight through, then we could
go back afterward. Stopping and pointing things out only lengthened the reading and could have
been avoided. Also, I probably would have asked less closed-ended questions. I also noticed
that I said, thats very true quite a lot, which is something I never noticed I have a habit of
doing. I may also consider either picking a shorter book, or not recording the reading of the
story. My recording is about 17 minutes long because of the story. The actual interview is about
8-9 minutes, it just appears to be far longer at first glance due to the length of the story. Overall,
I was pleased with how well the interview went, and I believe I have a better understanding of a
kindergartners outlook on story elements.